WOMEN WHO MAKE THINGS

crafty

We’ve had a lot going on this summer at Miss MorningWood. We bought a van, got rid of most everything we own and moved to the mountains. Sarah also got hit by a car while crossing the street and Ashley ended up in the ER on our first week here in Denver. We had an amazing adventure along the way that we can’t wait to share with you and we already have our next Lucky 13 artist ready to over-share. As for the werkshop, we are busy building a live/ work space with a built in “treehouse”, finally found some legit repurposed wood sources and have an art fest in October that we are prepping for. But we really miss this little blog and all of the connections we’ve made and we can’t wait to get back to it. Doing my wordpress homework and hoping to have some more appealing features when we return. We Wish You Were Here and will See You Soon!

We sold our first piece today! It was for a wonderful couple who are hosting a memorial this weekend and are using the experience as a motivation to complete their home projects. We feel so honored to add a little ray of happiness to their process. What made it even more special is that they spotted the first piece Sarah ever made behind some other boards and fell instantly in love. We will make sure to post pics of the first Miss Morningwood in her new home soon!

I first stumbled on Ghost Dancer while looking for divine feminine inspiration on Instagram. She had posted beautiful pictures of Georgia O’Keefe along with the caption “Use your hands. Use your hands to create that which has no word, use your hands to love, use your hands to heal, to redefine your perception. Use your hands to leave your legacy and use your hands to bring out the good in humanity. Bring on the hand woven, hand blessed, heart in hand felt and hand made revolution.” It was exactly what I was seeking at the moment. The beautiful words matched her incredibly intricate weavings and jewelry. But what I admired most about Rhiannon was her respect for the women who have come before and her ability to incorporate their stories into her art. Her Lucky 13 interview is as eloquent and insightful as the caption that first captured my attention.

1.What are you working on at the moment? Presently, all of my attention is devoted to prototyping the fall/winter 2014/2015 collection of woven textile jewelry. I released my first collection of tapestries this past April full moon and it was a new exciting endeavor for Ghost Dancer. Switching mediums from bead work to woven art begs for full attention and experimentation.

2.What drives you to do what you do? That is the ineffable force that is the heartbeat of the universe, that which I like to think of as the cosmic fuel in every living thing. Creating anything just feels like the wind blown down some starlit tunnel channeling into me and it pours out of me. I believe it’s an obligation to share a gift that lifts people with joy, inspiration and beauty so creating what I do and knowing it touches the hearts of the wide open world makes me feel good.

3.What is it like to be a woman in your line of work? Awesome. The art of adornment has been carried both by men and women around the world through the ages so this path seems quite natural. I’m a woman and I’ve got sensibilities that strengthen me to hack my way through a male driven world and walk my path confidently. When it comes to designing jewelry, as a woman, I’m designing for a woman and I can say twisting my perception to cater to men has been a challenge I haven’t overcome yet. I hope to do so with the alliance of men who have a hawk eye for detail.

4.Do you have any regrets? Taking life too seriously at times. I’d like to say that whenever faced with self doubt, I’d say I gracefully encourage myself to trust in the larger picture and that seed of truth replaces any dark seed of regret or doubt.

5.Do you have any scars? I have a heart shaped scar on my left hip from flying off of a scooter on a bridge in Greece years ago. After landing on dry gravel, the wound formed a little misformed heart. Any emotional scarring finds resolve and strength with time..and the willingness to heal.

6.What do you believe in? Just be.

7.What is your best dream? Impossible to share one but I frequently imagine myself with a ranch in New Mexico, raising rabbits and using their hair to spin and weave with. I imagine my ranch fully sustainable with a wood working studio, ceramic studio, weaving, and casting foundry for jewelry/home furnishings. Arabian horses, a black Frisian, a Palomino,and 25 miniature horses are absolutely necessary along with wonderful friends and a good community.

8.What could you not live without as an artist? The reflection of those dearest to me.

9.What is your guiltiest pleasure? A full bag of salt and vinegar chips and devouring before anyone else gets a hand near.

10.Who is your Woman Crush Wenesday? Petecia Le Fawnhawk. She is the ethereal fawn from a different realm, somewhere between elvin forests and dust bowl prairies. I really love her voice and the artist splendor that emanates from her. Very dreamy.

11.Which woman artist out there today would you love to shine the spotlight on? I would happily say Le Fawn Hawk. www.lefawnhawk.com

12.Where can we stalk you?www.ghostdancercollection.com is my personal website, pardon the need for a site update. My tumblr blog is connected to my website too. My instagram is : TheGhostDancer where I share musings, recent work and beauty.Ghost Dancer on pinterest as well.

13.Anything else you’d like to (over)share? I love meeting like minded artists and muses in the area so I always welcome new friends.

How do I use it? Hammers can actually be really dangerous, trust me I hurt myself a lot! Let’s just trust the experts at WikiHow on this one

When do I use it? When can’t you use a hammer? Miss MorningWood uses it to pull nails out of lathe and to push our lathe pieces into place on our panels. We use it with a chisel to chip bark off logs and we use it with nails for…many things. You should absolutely use both “hammered” and “nailed” as verbs as often as possible. If you are a lesbian, you will certainly need to use a hammer once or twice in your life to impress a girl. We suggest splitting wood for a fire while sporting a red flannel (which should work for men trying to “nail” straight girls too.) Check out The Family HandyMan for a few other uses and the amazing Hammer Like a Girl blog for inspiration!

Last week Sarah designed her first wood panel in our new GingerPino WerkShop (aka our newly cleaned garage.) It happened to land right on our 2 year anniversary making it a perfect gift for one lucky Ginger. Swoon. I guess that’s why Sarah is the only magic man in my life. I must be a pretty good Ginger Muse too, because the magic kept on flowing this week with several gorgeous reclaimed lathe panels.